Moving with the OF THOUGHT

“Tom came to see me with this idea of creating a device which could be implanted in a blood vessel via the jugular vein,” says Prof May, head of the neurocardiovascular lab. “It was one of those brilliant moments when you realise a great young mind has come up with something quite unique.

“I realised we had to support the project and make it work.”

Major funding from the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council followed. Dr Oxley then involved 39 great minds from 16 groups to develop the device with a vascular bionics catheter lab set-up at the Florey.

Fast-forward four years and the device is ready to be tested in humans.

It is expected that three candidates will be chosen from a specific patient cohort in 2017. The surgery will take place at the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

Florey scientists have helped develop a unique device to be implanted next to the brain’s motor cortex – without the need for major brain surgery.

The Florey’s Professor Clive May and a team of 39 researchers from 16

The device, a stent-based electrode known as a strentrode, could one day help paralysed people move their limbs. People with spinal cord injuries would use thought to wirelessly control their bionic limbs, wheelchairs, computers or when walking in powered body armour, known as an exoskeleton.

The stentrode, about the length of a matchstick, will be implanted in a blood vessel that sits over the brain. It will record high-quality signals emitted from the motor cortex, and will turn these signals into electrical commands.

The work, a major collaboration between the Florey, the Royal Melbourne Hospital and 16 collaborative institutions, was published in February in the journal, Nature Biotechnology

The initial idea for the breakthrough device came from Royal Melbourne Hospital neurologist, Dr Tom Oxley, a Research Fellow at the Florey and the University of Melbourne.

Dr Oxley is interested in vascular systems and electrophysiology and has worked with senior Florey researcher, Professor Clive May since 2011.

Stroke and spinal cord injuries are leading causes of disability, affecting 1 in 50 people. There are 20,000 Australians with spinal cord injuries, with the typical patient a 19-yearold male. About 150,000 Australians are left severely disabled after stroke.

The device has applications far beyond assisting those with paralysis. The stentrode could be used to record brain waves for people living with epilepsy, helping them predict when they are about to have a seizure. People living with movement disorders like Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis or motor neurone disease may also benefit in years to come.

“ Think about moving your legs.”